EPISODES

We typically think of global warming in terms of the consequences it has for humanity. But it also has huge and troubling impacts for the species we share our planet with.

That impact is a topic that Elizabeth Kolbert writes about in her Pulitzer Prize winning book the Sixth Extinction. In it, she outlines how human beings are causing changes so disruptive to the environment, that a large proportion of the earth's species are expected to be extinct by the end of the century.

Some of these impacts are through things like habitat destruction and the mass introduction of invasive species. But increasingly the threat of climate change is also playing a major role, throwing a wrench into ecosystems and the ability of species to survive thanks to the devastating effects of ocean acidification, and the rapid movement of the sensitive ranges species have adapted to.